Memories of family turmoil and political strife behind prize for top Hong Kong music educator
Yip Wai-hong, a veteran of children’s music education, has struggled through communist upheaval and family division to earn recognition of his composing talent
Hong Kong’s top music educator has told of how a prestigious prize set to be bestowed on him this week is recognition of lesser known achievements, but masks memories of family estrangement and political turmoil.
Yip Wai-hong, a veteran of children’s music education with junior orchestras and choruses, will receive this year’s Hall of Fame Award from the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong on Tuesday night.
“The award will highlight my achievements as a composer,” Yip said. “I have composed more than 200 works, and composition is what I studied, against my father’s will, in the early 1950s.”
Instead of following his family’s advice by pursuing civil engineering, Yip changed his university major to music at the former Yenching University in Beijing, which in 1952 was incorporated into Peking University.
“I was transferred to the Central Conservatory of Music in Tianjin and studied under a Soviet professor who took delight in my graduation work, a cello concerto, and recommended me for training in Moscow,” he said.